32 Chapter 32

"Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!"

Alex flinched and instinctively pushed Annabeth down at the sight of the gleaming pistol in the man's hand. "Stay down!" he said, peeking over the cushioned seat and past Jules. 

The woman, who had a thin but long figure with scraggly short hair, frantically pointed what looked like a pocket revolver everywhere she remembered to. Her hands were shaking, probably out of nervousness— and that meant a shaky finger on the trigger.

"Any of you fuckin' pricks move and I'll execute every one of you motherfuckers! Got that?!" she screamed.

Her lover — a short, skinny man with close-cropped hair — rushed to the counter. 

Annabeth was quivering, head held between her arms in her ducking position. Alex looked backwards; Thalia was frozen by the jukebox. Her hand was hovering on the mace canister that turned into her spear, but she, like Alex, had probably reached a simple but quick conclusion: the danger, this time, wasn't monsters, but mortals. 

Being demigods, none of them was unfamiliar to the beasts that were hellbent on killing them — at least, the idea of these monsters. Even Annabeth had gotten over her initial fear of fighting, which was replaced by a burning determination to defeat them. 

"Customers stay seated, waiter on the floor!" the man yelled.

He looked at Jules for a second. The man's right hand, which had been occupied with stirring his coffee, went under the table. The distinct sound of a pistol's hammer cocking back and into place echoed, and Alex widened his eyes. He sat upright on his seat and stared into space, his mind brainstorming by itself. 

Jules also had a gun.

That meant Vincent probably had one as well. And that meant the chance of there being a gunfight had just escalated even more. But... that didn't need to happen. Alex just needed the two robbers to get close enough so he could muddle their minds with the Mist. He hadn't tried this with someone so rilled up before, so there was a chance it could not work, especially since the robbers being so alert could make them more resistant to the Mist. Still, he had to try. The last thing he wanted was a stray bullet hitting any of his friends.

"Now means fuckin' now!" the woman screamed again. "Do it or die, do it or fucking die!"

Like lighting, her lover moved over to the kitchen. The woman kept pointing her gun at the few patrons near her before slowly moving along the booths. 

"The Mexican lady in the kitchen, get out of there!" the man shouted. Seconds later, Alex saw a small and portly lady come out of the kitchen. The couple shoved her to the waiter's side, who caught her and bear-hugged her in relief. "In the corner or I'll cook your ass, comprende?"

She nodded, whispering something to the waiter who Alex guessed was her husband, seeing as they had identical rings on their ring fingers. Then the waiter spoke up.

"I-I'm the manager here. We d-don't want problems. No problems at all."

The male robber whirled to face the portly manager. 

"What? You're gonna give me a problem?" he reached to the older man and stuck the barrel of his gun hard on his neck, slamming him on the counter. "You said you're gonna give me a problem?!"

"No, I'm not!" the manager squealed, his face pressed against the counter. "I'm not going to give you any problem!"

"I don't know about that..." the robber hissed. He then looked at his lover. "What do you think, Honey Bunny? He looks like the hero type to me!"

The woman screeched "Kill him, Pumpkin! Don't take any chances!"

Most of the patrons screamed. Alex glanced Jules's way, who was watching all of that silently, his right hand most definitely still gripping his firearm under the table.

"Please don't!" the manager began to weep. "I'm not a hero! I'm just a diner manager. Take everything you want!"

"Shh... no need to cry," Pumpkin ran his gun across the manager's back like a father trying to soothe his crying child. "Tell everyone to cooperate and it'll be all over."

"Everyone, please be calm!" the manager managed to say loudly. "Be calm and it'll be all over in a minute!"

"Well done," Pumpkin tapped the man on the back before punching him on the back of his head. "Now get your fuckin' ass on the ground!"

Thalia was still by the jukebox and Luke was in the toilet. Honey Bunny perched herself on top of the counter trying to control the patrons from above. The dude went behind the counter and opened the cash register drawer, stuffing the money from the till in his pocket. He then walked around it with a trash bag in his hands.

"Okay people, I'm going to go around and collect your wallets. Don't talk, just toss 'em in the bag. We clear?" Pumpkin said, raising the empty trash bag for everyone to see. 

Most of the patrons quickly abided, throwing whatever they were using to carry cash around in the bag. Alex still sat calmly in his booth, breathing deeply to get his nerves under control. Nervousness would only make things more difficult. 

Meanwhile...

Luke, oblivious to the pandemonium outside, leaned against the white-tilled wall, waiting for whoever was in the toilet to come out. Michael Jackson was playing on the small speaker in the ceiling, and Luke unconsciously nodded his head to the rhythm of the song. 

"Is someone in it?" Somebody asked. Luke turned his head slightly and got a look at the long-haired dude who spoke.

"Yep," he answered curtly. 

The dude groaned and leaned against the wall, much like Luke. He reached for his pants pocket and took out a small book with a dark pink cover. Luke, out of curiosity, tilted his head to get a look at the title. The dude noticed.

"Modesty Blaise," he said, showing the front cover while he flipped a page. "Ever heard of it?"

Luke scratched his neck, remembering times when he was younger and he'd sneak into comic shops at night. "Only read the comics," he said turning fully to Vincent. 

"You should give the book a try," Vincent flipped another page. "The comics ain't doing it justice."

"I'm dyslexic," Luke shrugged. 

"That so?" Vincent hummed, sparing him a glance before going back to the book. "Though luck, then. Can't imagine myself readin' a book and gettin' a headache."

"I get that a lot," Luke said, though he doubted the dude actually knew how dyslexia even worked. 

While Luke was engaged in a weird conversation with a John Travolta look-alike, Pumpkin was walking through the booths, slowly feeling the weight of the trash bag increase. He passed by Thalia, probably ignoring her because of her age, Alex thought. 

Pumpkin, probably emboldened by how easily everyone was complying, swagged over to the three women sitting on the stools by the counter and lifted the trash bag.

"Wallets, bitch. Now!" he yelled at the woman closest to him, pointing his small revolver at her. 

As Pumpkin said that, the same woman he was screaming at turned her head to look at him. Alex, though he could only see the right side of her face, couldn't help but notice how pretty she looked. Full lips, high cheekbones, and a piercing gaze. Pumpkin seemed to think the same, seeing how he lowered his weapon for a second before shaking his head and pointing it at the woman again, this time dangerously close to her forehead.

"Didn't you hear me?!" he yelled again. "Money! Now!"

She frowned, but Alex noticed it wasn't out of fear, but with some kind of indignation that seemed out of place. Then, she spoke. 

"Why don't you just take a seat beside me?" she suggested, and Alex narrowed his eyes.

Her voice was... smooth and compelling... almost musical. Despite the distance between them, Alex felt some sort of pull from her words. He couldn't put a finger on the sensation. It was as if her voice was enchanted. 

To add to his suspicion, Pumpkin's aggressiveness somewhat dissipated. His expression morphed from a deep frown to confusion, then to compliance. He moved awkwardly, almost like a puppet, and sat quietly on the stool beside the woman.

From Alex's perspective, it was as if the woman had cast some sort of spell. He'd seen many strange things during the past year, including some of the powers of fellow demigods: Thalia could summon thunder and lightning, Luke could magically open any lock and run faster than anyone Alex knew, Annabeth was so smart at 7 years of age that he sometimes felt as dumb as a rock compared to her, and Alex himself had fuckin' wings — not to mention all the shadow stuff he could do, even if it exhausted him. 

But this sort of power was different. It wasn't brute strength or power, it wasn't a show of power or intelligence. It was... something softer, yet somehow just as commanding. Alex had read some stories about a power like this — stories of monsters and gods that could influence people and creatures with their voices. 

What was it called, again?

"What the motherfuckin' fuck," Jules muttered. Right, Alex could only imagine how this would look like to someone who had no idea what was happening. 

Honey Bunny panicked. "Pumpkin?!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "What the hell are you doing?"

When her lover didn't respond, still blankly staring at the woman who coerced him into sitting, her panic turned into anger. She pointed her gun directly at the woman, her finger twitching dangerously on the trigger. "Get up, or I swear I'll shoot her!"

There was already a lot of tension in the diner, and her threat only made the keg even fuller. Some of the patrons held their breath, while an old woman on a booth near the entrance fainted. 

Pumpkin didn't even flinch. He kept staring at nothing at all, and that made Honey Bunny tighten her grip on the revolver. 

"Uh..." The woman in the middle of the three groaned. "Just get it over with, Alectoria. We still have the demigods to deal with."

"Was that a joke, Sirelin?" The one named Alectoria asked with indignation. "These mortals think they own the world— I should've killed them the moment they brought out those strange metal thundersticks they all seem to love."

"Oh, please. You just want to stroke your ego by controlling mortals who can't even fight against the charmspeak," the last woman, the one farthest to the left, sneered. 

Alectoria hissed at her. "Watch your slimy mouth, Erynthis."

"Ladies, please. Let's not fight," Sirelin lifted both of her hands between the two other women. She then looked at the woman on her left. "But Alectoria, weren't you complaining just hours ago how much you've been missing demigod blood? At this rate, they're going to leave before we can do anything."

Alright, Alex thought, those were most definitely monsters. Or maybe they were witches? He wasn't sure if those existed. 

"Y-You know I can hear you fuckin' nutjobs talkin', right?" Honey Bunny stammered in a high-pitched voice. Her hands were shaking while holding the gun. "Let m-my Pumpkin go before I start blastin'!"

The three women turned simultaneously to her. Honey Bunny flinched and took a step back. Alex noticed Thalia's hand grip her mace canister. Jules had overcome his surprise and had his gun ready. 

Alectoria, Sirelin and Erynthis all sat up. Honey Bunny immediately pointed her gun at them again.

"ANOTHER MOVE AND I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" she screamed. 

Erynthis chuckled with a dangerous glare in her eyes. "The little bunny thinks she can hurt us—"

*BANG*BANG*

Two shots rang out. Alex and Annabeth ducked in the booth. Thalia hid behind the jukebox while some courageous patrons rushed out of the door. The rest resigned themselves to scream and take cover on their tables and seats. 

A small trail of smoke left the revolver in Honey Bunny's hands. Sweat was trickling down her face like a waterfall, and every inch of her body was trembling. She stared wide-eyed at the woman she shot at. 

Nothing had happened. At all, not that she could see. Not even a nick of blood. The two bullets made holes in the empousa that instantly reformed with the golden dust, but to Honey Bunny, they had passed through Erynthis like she wasn't even there; like she was a ghost. Alex made a quick mental note that normal metals couldn't hurt monsters. At least, that was what he thought. 

"Ups!" Alectoria laughed. "Looks like we gave ourselves away."

"You'd done that already," Sirelin commented. She looked straight at Alex, who immediately reached for the sword hilt sticking out of his backpack. "But now there's no point in keeping the facade."

The three of them morphed, abandoning their human-like form. Their hair caught on fire, and it was as if their heads were candles, though the flames covered most of their scalp. Their skin lost all of its colour, turning into a pale white that really made them look like ghosts. The glowing red eyes, sharp-looking fangs, and mismatched legs — one a donkey leg, the other made out of celestial bronze — made them look scary and comical at the same time. 

"Empousai," Annabeth muttered, clutching onto Alex's varsity jacket. "Vampires."

Great, he thought, groaning. Just what was needed for a perfect relaxing time. 

**********

A/N: The gang gets to meet two very interesting characters :0

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